Serve these adorable little Lemon Cake Chicks for Easter. Each lemon-flavored Easter cake is topped with tart lemon frosting and is decorated using modeling chocolate or frosting. They taste as good as they look.
How cute will these baby chick cakes look on your Easter dessert table? They are sure to make your family smile.
The lemon cake is moist and tender and the frosting is sweet and tart and bursting with lemon flavor.
Modeling Chocolate Decorations
I had fun adding a unique look to each of my cakes using homemade modeling chocolate. Just changing the eyes, makes each baby chick look different.
The modeling chocolate decorations are easy to make using cookie cutters.
I used a 1 ½-inch round cutter and a medium round plunger cutter to make the eyes. Then, I used a 1-inch triangle cutter to make the beak and feet.
Frosting Decorations
If you prefer to use just frosting, you can decorate the cake using a pastry bag.
These baby chick cakes were decorated by piping stars of frosting over the cake. The eyes can be piped on but I simply added two small black candy melts to each cake.
I think the cakes decorated with modeling chocolate are cuter but these frosted cakes are pretty darn cute too. So, no matter how you decide to decorate your baby chick cakes for Easter, you'll need to use a good lemon cake and lemon frosting recipe.
Recipe
- 2 large lemons
- 2 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, sifted (352grams)
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened (230g )
- 1 ¾ cups granulate sugar (350g)
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- ¾ teaspoon lemon extract
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup whole milk (240ml ), at room temperature (or warm in the microwave for 15-20 seconds)
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- ¼ cup freshly squeezed Lemon Juice
- 1-3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream or whole milk
- yellow food coloring
- 3 ounces white modeling chocolate or fondant
- 3 ounces orange modeling chocolate or fondant
- 1 ounce black modeling chocolate or fondant
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Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C).
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Grease three 6-inch cake pans with butter and line the bottoms with a parchment paper round.
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Dust the pans with flour, then set aside.
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Wash and dry your lemons.
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Zest the lemons removing just the yellow skin avoiding the white pith.
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Measure out 1 heaping tablespoon of zest. Set aside.
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Then, squeeze the lemons allowing the juice to flow through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the pulp and seeds.
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Measure ⅓ cup (80ml) of juice and set aside.
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Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
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Pour the butter, sugar, and lemon zest into the bowl of a stand mixer or into a large mixing bowl.
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Beat the butter and sugar on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase the speed to high and mix for 3-4 minutes until light and fluffy.
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Then, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
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Add the eggs, lemon extract, and vanilla extract and beat on high speed for 2 minutes.
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Scrape down the bowl then turn the mixer on low speed.
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Sprinkle the flour into the bowl in three batches, mixing each for about 15 seconds, just until blended.
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Pour in the milk and lemon juice and beat on low speed just until combined.
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The cake batter will be very thick.
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Equally divide the cake batter among three 6-inch round cake pans using about 2 ⅓ cups in each pan.
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Spread the cake batter into an even layer, then bake for around 26 minutes.
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Open the oven and rotate the pans.
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Continue baking for 4-8 minutes until the tops of your cakes turn golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cakes comes out clean.
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Allow the cakes to cool for 30 minutes in the pans, then turn them out onto a cooling rack.
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Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.
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You can wrap the cooled cakes and freeze them for up to three months.
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Beat the butter on high speed for 1 minute until smooth and creamy.
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Sift the powdered sugar over the butter.
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Pour in the lemon juice, 1 tablespoon of heavy whipping cream or milk, and 10 drops of yellow food coloring.
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Beat on low speed for about 30 seconds, then increase the speed to high and beat for 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy.
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Add more yellow coloring if desired and add more heavy whipping cream or milk a little at a time if your frosting is too stiff.
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Frost each lemon cake with a very thin (crumb coat) layer of icing.
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Then, set the cakes aside to allow that frosting to crust.
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Cover your bowl of icing to keep it from crusting while you cut out your modeling chocolate or fondant decorations.
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Roll out the white modeling chocolate or fondant to about ⅛-inch thickness.
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Cut out six 1 ½-inch circles.
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If desired, cut a small notch out of a circle, so you can attach two circles together.
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Roll out the orange modeling chocolate to 1/16-inch and cut out twelve 1-inch triangles.
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Cut six of the triangles into chicken feet by cutting out two triangle-shaped notches.
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Create open beaks by attaching two orange triangles along the long edges together using a tiny bit of water.
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Roll out the black modeling chocolate very thin and cut out six small circles.
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Brush the back of the black circles with a tiny bit of water and press one onto each white modeling chocolate circle creating the eyes.
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Now, add a thick layer of lemon frosting to each cake making the frosting look furry by pressing a metal spatula or spoon into the soft frosting, then pulling away from the cake to make little furry spikes.
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Decorate each lemon cake chick with the modeling chocolate or fondant eyes, beak, and feat.
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If desired, pipe yellow frosting wings onto the baby chick cakes.
This lemon buttercream frosting will crust as it dries, so be sure to add your decorations to the cake while soft.
You can store these cakes at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Modeling chocolate will get sticky if stored in the refrigerator.
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